Mary Jane's Last Dance
by Ace of Gallifrey
Summary: The hookup in R&R was yet another swing-and-a-miss in L/L's long line of them, and their relationship didn't happen. Now her daughter is marrying his nephew, and the wedding stuff is getting to Lorelai, making her have... feelings... JJ & a bit of Lit.


**Title- **Mary Jane's Last Dance**  
>CharactersPairings-** Luke & Lorelai against a nice backdrop of Rory & Jess**  
>Rating-<strong> T**  
>Summary- <strong>The hookup in Raincoats & Recipes was yet another swing-and-a-miss in L/L's long, long line of them, and their relationship never happened. Now her daughter is marrying his nephew, and all that wedding atmosphere stuff is getting to Lorelai. But it's just the wedding stuff... right?

****A/N-**** This is a response to JavaJunkieLL4Ever's challenge on BWR: "So we've all seen the fics about Rory and Jess hooking up at Luke and Lorelai's wedding. But what about a fic about Luke and Lorelai hooking up at Rory and Jess' wedding?"

Just so we're clear, Rory's Yale/yacht flipout and all related things went down, April popped up, Christopher and Lorelai got back together and that unfortunate experiment still happened, but Luke and Lorelai just weren't together for any of it. Are we absolutely clear? Okay, great.  
>I'm planning on 5-7 chapters for this (not including this short prologue), but we'll see how it goes. I have a bad habit of letting my stories run away with me.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>July 12, 2008<strong>

Lorelai pressed her back against the cool wood, her eyes sliding shut as she allowed the closed door to support the weight that her shaking knees were refusing to. The veranda of the little inn was drenched in lazy, late-afternoon light, but the trellis and awning shielded her from the lowering sun for the moment; a breeze bearing just a hint of that unlikely chill that sometimes descends during the evenings in July swept across the space. She was grateful for the cool air against her flushed cheeks.

"Get it together, Gilmore," she told herself out loud. "You're forty years old, now act like it!"

Once she was sure her legs would hold up under her, she crossed to the far side of the veranda and leaned on her elbows against the wooden railing, feeling the soft, silky fabric of her dress swishing against her knees. She gazed out across the lawn as it sloped down away from her to the edge of the woodland beyond, taking in the tasteful landscaping and the ever-so-faintly Asiatic atmosphere of the area, gathering ideas to take back to the Dragonfly.

"Grown woman," she reminded herself. "Entrepreneur. Mother of the bride. Time to think maturity, Lorelai."

The less-than-mature part of her, the part that was still apparently twelve and giggling over cute boys and double entendres, was too busy bouncing up and down like a jumping bean on steroids to pay attention. That part of her was screaming _Finally!_even as the rest of her was busy panicking. Still, she felt she was beginning to have some success at the whole slowing-her-heart-rate thing.

"Talking to yourself?" a voice asked suddenly from outside of her range of vision. Lorelai whipped around, knowing who it was just by the sound of his voice.

Sure enough, there stood Luke, hands in his pockets, looking as disturbingly handsome as he had all day. _Well, there went her control over her pulse..._

"No, um, not talking to myself," she fumbled. "Just getting... some landscaping inspiration for the Dragonfly."

She found herself staring at the open collar of his white shirt; high up on the collar she could still see a little streak of her lipstick there. Are You Ready Red was the shade. Vaguely she became aware that he was saying something, but she was too busy feeling irritated that the red smudge was on his collar and not his skin... oh Jesus, she was in _so_much trouble...

"Lorelai!"

And he had already said her name three or four times, hadn't he? Crap.

"Um..."

He sighed. "Lorelai, we can do this dance all we want, but we're never gonna get anywhere. I'm sick of dancing," he said bluntly, looking her firmly in the eyes.

"Hey, you're the one who asked me, Buddy," she quipped, desperately trying to keep this in the same joking zone where they were always very careful to leave their conversations. She wasn't quite sure where this was heading (okay, that was a lie, she knew _exactly_where), but she still didn't know if she wanted to go there. Okay, maybe that was a lie, too, but wanting something and assuming it was a good idea were two separate issues entirely.

"No, Lorelai," Luke countered firmly. "We're not doing this again. We're not coming this close to something and then running away from it because one or both of us chickens out. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about; I know you know as well as I do. We've been doing this same stupid thing for years and I, for one, am sick of it. We are having the conversation we've been avoiding all this time, and we're having it right now."

Lorelai swallowed, hard. _Oh, she was in so much trouble..._


End file.
